Clinton "Clint" Barton, code name Hawkeye, is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and founding member of the Avengers. Barton has no real superpowers but is the world's greatest marksman armed with a recurve bow.

After escaping Loki's mind-control, he joins the Battle of New York as a founding member of the Avengers. He reassembled with the team when Loki's Scepter was located. He also played a role in recruiting Wanda Maximoff and her brother to the Avengers. Barton left the Avengers after defeating Ultron in order to spend more time with his family.

Contents

Biography

Clint Barton was serving in a military branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. when freakish atmospheric events, followed by the discovery of Mjölnir in an impact crater, he was deployed to New Mexico as part of a security force to protect the object. Soon after his deployment, Thor broke into the S.H.I.E.L.D. compound and fought his way to the mysterious hammer. Barton responded to the alarms by collecting a compound bow and claiming a high vantage point suspended from a crane. Despite making several radio transmissions warning that the intruder was reaching the hammer, Barton was never given a shoot order, forcing him to let his target go.

Fury's Big Week

Fury contacted Barton, upsetting him due to the fact that it was the first day of his first vacation. However, once Fury told Barton that he was assigning him to a possible alien crash site in New Mexico, he decided to go. On his way to New Mexico, Barton passed by the Roxxon Gas Station where Coulson passed by earlier. Clint arrives to the site where Coulson and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are. He asked Coulson if he caught an alien, but Coulson corrects him stating it was an alien object. After Thor breaks into the base, Barton spots Jane Foster running away. Barton informs Coulson about this after Thor is arrested.

After the Destroyer was subdued by Thor, Barton contacted Coulson about it. Later Coulson and Barton had the armor taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D. airbase in Roswell, New Mexico.

A year later, Fury drives Barton to the Mojave desert for watch over Selvig and the Tesseract.

Black Widow Strikes

Barton was on S.H.I.E.L.D. screens.

The Avengers Initiative

As part of a test, Barton, in disguise, enters the Helicarrier, where he downloads a file about the members that were in consideration for the Avengers Initiative, when suddenly he's attacked by Black Widow. Barton is shot with a Ray Gun by Black Widow. When Fury shows up, Barton tells him that he should've told him that the Widow had a Ray Gun Fury tells him that it would be negative, as this test had to be as realistic as possible.

With his mission completed in New Mexico, Barton gets assigned to guard the Tesseract at a S.H.I.E.L.D. research facility. When it began emitting increased levels of gamma radiation the entire facility was placed on high alert and most staff were evacuated, while Barton and a few others remained as rearguard for as long as they could. The emissions proved to be a precursor to the unexpected appearance of Loki, who had used it to reach Earth extradimensionally. Barton and the other guards were quickly overpowered and Barton was promptly enslaved into Loki's service.

For a time, Barton served Loki as a guard, enforcer, and assassin, completely without volition. When Loki was incarcerated in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Barton led a commando raid against the vessel to extricate him, as well as to directly add to the chaos that Loki was seeding within his enemies. The attack drew him into direct conflict with Black Widow, his staunchest ally, who bested him in close quarters and scored a blow to his head that helped to dislodge Loki's hold over him.

Upon recovering from the ordeal, Barton vowed to put Loki down, going so far as to propose an arrow to the Asgardian's eye socket. To that end he willingly grabbed his equipment and offered to pilot Captain America and Black Widow to Loki's location, which had been determined as New York City. Once there, the trio formed up with Thor Odinson, Dr. Bruce Banner (the Hulk), and Tony Stark (Iron Man), to fight Loki together.

The group quickly found themselves embroiled in a battle for New York City against a huge invasion force of Chitauri, whom Loki had summoned using the Tesseract. Barton, now using his codename "Hawkeye", initially fought the alien warriors on the streets before switching to a higher vantage point atop a high-rise building to snipe at the alien air support. At one point he even took a shot at Loki, and although the aim was true, Loki simply snatched the arrow from the air before it struck. Hawkeye had planned in advance however, and had rigged the arrow with an explosive head that knocked Loki's transport out of the sky.

When the battle was over Hawkeye and the others parted company. He and Agent Romanoff returned to the service of S.H.I.E.L.D. until the next time the world would call on the Avengers.

When Captain America and his team are being hunted by the Government, Captain America calls Barton to rescue Wanda Maximoff from the New Avengers Facility where she is under complete protection by Vision. While Vision and Wanda are sleeping, Barton sets off an explosion outside, waking up Vision and Wanda. Vision tells Wanda to stay inside while he goes outside to investigate the situation. Wanda watches as Vision goes outside, when suddenly she senses the presence of someone behind her. So she launches a knife with her powers but stops the knife when she realizes that it is her friend and former teammate, Clint Barton. Barton pushes the knife infant of him and jokes that he should've knocked. Surprised to see Barton, Wanda asks what he is doing here, which Barton tells Wanda that he is disappointing his kids as they were supposed to go waterskiing before Captain America called him.

Barton shoots arrows on both sides of the room and tells Wanda they need to leave as Captain America needs their help to fight against the Sokovia Accords. Barton takes Wanda's hand, and without any question, Wanda leaves with Barton. Vision comes back from outside after realising that the explosion was a distraction and stops the two from leaving. Vision tells Barton that he should not be here to which Barton states that he retired for five minutes and it all went to shit. As Vision goes to approach Barton and Maximoff he tells Barton to consider the consequences of his actions when suddenly the two arrows that Barton placed before released electric shocks to Vision slowing him down temporarily so they could escape.

While Vision is being stopped, Barton makes his way to the door when he notices Wanda isn't leaving as she thinks that it is best for her to stay. Vision breaks free from Barton's trap and he and Barton start to fight. Vision knocks Barton away and Barton tells himself that he should of stretched first and then pulls out a baton to assist him in fighting Vision. All of Barton's attacks are countered by Vision's ability to phase and he fights back at Barton. Barton becomes overpowered by Vision, who gets him in a lock. Vision tells Barton that he can not defeat him. Barton agrees with Vision and tells him that Wanda could defeat him. Wanda tells Vision to let Barton go uses her powers to control the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead and forces him to release Barton and fall to his knees. Vision warns her about what will happen if she leaves and how everyone will fear her and Wanda finishes Vision by pushing him through the ground temporarily defeating him. The two then leave the New Avengers Facility to go recruit Scott Lang to help Captain America fight the Accords.

After defeating Vision and recruiting Wanda Maximoff, Barton and Wanda recruit Scott Lang, who had been recommended by Falcondue to their run in at the Avengers Facility. Barton, Wanda and Scott waited for Captain America in Berlin. When Steve arrived, he told Barton that he would not have called him from retirement if there were any other choice. Barton told him that he needed this as he owed Wanda a debt. Steve then asked about their new recruit and Barton opened the van and retrieved Scott and introduced him to Captain America which much to his delighted. After Steve informed Scott about the situation. Barton informs the group that he has called a helicopter to pick them up. The group all suited up and made their way to the Flughafen Leipzig-Halle Airport where they would be taken to Siberia.

When Captain America and Falcon learn that there were five other candidates for the Winter Soldier Program and that a man called Helmut Zemo was heading to the facility where they were being kept in cryogenic stasis, Captain America and his team head to the Flughafen Leipzig-Halle Airport where a Quinjet is waiting to take them to Siberia. Captain America gets surrounded by Iron Man's team and Spider-Man takes his shield and webs his hands together. Hawkeye, who is with Scarlet Witch, shoots an arrow cutting the webbing on Captain America's hands and the Avengers begin to fight each other.

Iron Man locates and goes after Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch. Iron Man fires several missiles near them and confronts the two. Iron Man then jokes about Hawkeye coming out of retirement. Barton states that he played eighteen holes and got eighteen, implying that he can not miss, to which Iron Man says there's a first for everything. Barton fires a few arrows at Iron Man and dodges them all and destroys them. As Hawkeye continues to fight Iron Man he reveals that he was just distracting him so Scarlet Witch could drop a bunch of cars of Iron Man which worked. Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch make their way to Captain America and his team so they can get to the Quinjet that will take them to Siberia. Hakweye spots the Quinjet up ahead, but, they are stopped by Vision who shoots a laser beam in front of them. The two teams, who were allies now stand on opposite sides of each other and Hawkeye stands with Captain America as the prepare to fight.

As the battle between the Avengers began, the two team start to charge at each other and Hawkeye takes a position and fires several trick arrows at his former allies. While the battle goes on, Hawkeye then gets in a fight with his best friend Black Widow. Their fight is an equal one as they are both equally skilled in combat. As Hawkeye throws Black Widow to the ground, she questions if they are still friends, which Hawkeye jokingly says it depends on how hard she hits him.

Black Widow gets the upper hand as Hawkeye was was holding back as he did not want to hurt his best friend. Black Widow is about to kick Barton in the face, but, is stopped by Scarlet Witch who throws her away with her powers. Scarlet Witch picks up on Hawkeye pulling his punches. As the battle between the Avengers continues, Hawkeye continues to fight. Falcon is being attacked by Iron Man and calls Hawkeye to get Iron Man off him. Hawkeye then teams up with Ant-Man, by getting him on one of his Jericho arrows.

Hawkeye asks if his buckled in and fires Ant-Man at Iron Man so he can disable Iron Man's armour. The arrow breaks apart and flies at Iron Man, who destroys all the incoming arrows. Ant-Man manages to jump off the arrow before it is destroyed. While Ant-Man is disabling Iron Man's armour, Hawkeye fights Iron Man to give Ant-Man some time. Right when Iron Man goes to fire back at Hawkeye, his armour starts to malfunction and Hawkeye makes his way his next fight.

While the battle continues, Captain America continues to stay and fight until they all can get away safely. But Falcon realized that they can not win this battle and get everyone to Siberia, Hawkeye suggest that some of them will have to lose in order for Captain America and Bucky Barnes to get to the Quinjet. As Rogers and Barnes make their way to the Quinjet, Ant-Man transforms into Giant-Man and Hawkeye takes on Black Panther.

Hawkeye fires several arrows at Black Panther who dodges them all and catches them while they explode in his face, which does him no harm. Hawkeye introduces himself to Black Panther who doesn't care and the two begin to fight. Hawkeye, knowing he can't defeat Black Panther with his archery skills, turns his bow into a combat bo staff. Hawkeye is able to hold his own briefly but Black Panther outmatches Hawkeye and breaks his staff and knocks him out and then goes after Captain America and Bucky.

After the Clash of the Avengers, Barton, Wanda Maximoff, Scott Lang and Sam Wilson were all captured and taken to the Raft where they were imprisoned. When Tony Stark visited, Barton taunted him, saying that the futurist had arrived. Stark tells Barton that they shouldn't be in there as the Raft was built for criminals which Barton claims that they are all now. Stark told Barton that he should of thought of his family when he chose to join Captain America.

Stark continues on to Sam Wilson's cell while Barton slams on the cell and warns them to watch their back, as Stark was likely to break it showing that Barton has lost all trust for Stark. Stark then knocked out the audio feed and revealed to Wilson that he was trying to help Steve Rogers. When Steve learns that the people who fought with him were being imprisoned, Rogers eventually infiltrated the Raft and freed Barton, Maximoff, Lang, and Wilson because he believed in them and they would go on to help out in secret as the are now being hunted by the Government.

Skills

As Hawkeye, he possesses no superhuman powers. Clint Barton is a skilled marksman with an exceptional ability in archery. He possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in intense regular exercise and is considered athletic. He also possesses a custom-made bow, a modernized quick-release quiver, and a number of specialty arrows. Hawkeye is able to fire six arrows faster than the average human can fire six bullets and is known to be a master archer with extraordinarily fast reflexes, exceptional dexterity, and near-perfect aim. He is also an excellent all-around marksman well versed in conventional firearms, and possibly has an uncanny knack for using miscellaneous hand-held objects as projectile weapons. Hawkeye is a veteran espionage operative, a formidable physical combatant, and an experienced fighter pilot, as evident in the Avengers, as he was able to pilot a Quinjet with ease along side Romanoff .

Master Archer: Barton has trained himself to become a master archer specializing in the use of regular bows, longbows, compound bows, and crossbows with near-perfect accuracy. He is capable of firing multiple arrows at a single target in a few seconds, hitting multiple targets in a few quick strokes, and hit small targets in the greatest of distances. As Hawkeye, he practiced a minimum of two hours per day to keep his skills honed.

Expert Marksman: He possesses very keen eyesight, and his accuracy is virtually unerring; he was trained in his youth by Trick Shot with throwing blades, balls, bolas, and boomerangs. He now has near-perfect precision with any aimed or thrown weapon. He can hurl objects with extreme speed and accuracy, both in direct aim and complicated rebounds/interactions. He was able to shoot down a Chitauri ship without even looking at it.

Expert Acrobat: Barton possesses exceptional human strength, endurance, and stamina. He is athletic, with very good reflexes and agility. This, combined with training as an aerialist and acrobat, makes him capable of complex acrobatic maneuvers.

Expert Fighter: Barton is an excellent combatant, having been trained in various styles (possibly being in the military). He was able to fight Natasha to a standstill although she eventually bested him in combat. He was capable of overthrowing many of the Chitauri soldiers, alongside the Black Widow, on the ground zero during the battle in New York with utilization of his recurve bow as well as his trick arrows.

Expert Strategist: Barton has been trained in military tactics under the training and service of possible military branches before operating with S.H.I.E.L.D. In The Avengers he commanded a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives, under the unwitting control of Loki just as the same as he was, for heisting a vault in Germany and infiltrating the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier with esteemed success. Each of these actions required a diversion.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Hawkeye's Quiver : Hawkeye's quiver is supplied with a multitude of different arrow heads in the bottom. By dialling up an armament setting from a control on his bow, Hawkeye can cause the quiver to affix these special arrowheads. This effectively increases the capabilities from conventional arrows, to explosive arrows, a grapple line, and more.

Weapons

Hawkeye's Bow : The bow is capable of folding on itself (most likely for either easier transport, concealing it, or both) & has a selector and transmitter that allows Hawkeye to control his mechanical quiver. It also has a laser sight.

Quotes

Steve Rogers: You think you can hold them off?Clint Barton: Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure.

Thor: I have unfinished business with Loki.Clint Barton: Yeah? Get in line.

Clint Barton: Do you want me to take him down or would you rather send in more guys for him to beat up?

Clint Barton: You better call it Coulson, cause I'm starting to root for this guy.

Natasha Romanoff:[watching the aliens come toward them] This is just like Budapest all over again.Clint Barton: You and I remember Budapest very differently.

Clint Barton: I've been through the whole mind control thing. Not a big fan.

Behind the scenes

When Barton cameos in Thor, he is shown as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent not a costumed hero.

Jeremy Renner's appearance was uncredited in Thor.

Trivia

It has been confirmed that Hawkeye and Black Widow have been teammates for a long time before the events of The Avengers. Black Widow informs Loki that their association is based on a deal and is not sentimental.

In Thor, Barton pulls bowstring with his right hand. In The Avengers he pulls it with his left hand.

In Promotion photos of The Avengers, Barton wore sunglasses with his uniform; in the film he didn't wear those sunglasses with his uniform.

When developing Hawkeye as a central superhero character, Joss Whedon quickly made the decision to leave out the masked, purple, chainmail-based spandex from the comics, believing it looked silly in the Marvel comics and would not suit the tone and realism of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The decision was made to make his costume resemble the version of the character in The Ultimates, whose costume featured no mask and an arrow down the chest as his symbol.

According to his S.H.I.E.L.D. file he shares the same birthday as his actor; January 7, 1971

During the final battle sequence of The Avengers, Iron Man calls Barton "Legolas", referencing the character from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings fantasy novel series, who is similarly an expert marksman with a bow.